In addition to the schedule, the following people are going to have ongoing assigned handler jobs throughout the event:
These people will be wranglers for the photo ops, collecting the characters for their assigned photo op and getting them to their shifts on time:
501st photo op: Jason Stanley
Rebel Legion photo op: Eric Russell
Vader photo op: Sean Illg
Rogue One photo op: Kate Walsh
Hoth photo op: Jim Miller
Force Awakens: Scott Huls

Missy Hinton will be our handler assisting Dan Heisey as C-3PO at the R2-D2 Builders table.

Bria LaVorgna will be our green room coordinator, assisting people to get into their costumes and helping with keeping the changing room functioning smoothly.

Chris Konisiewicz will be our green room door security- he will be assisting by doing volunteer badge checks for us throughout the evening.

Donna Coe will be our assistant volunteer coordinator, helping me to check in and keep track of our volunteers and schedules.

Anna Mitchell is coordinating the 501st table.

John Dittmyre and Rick Bouwhuis are coordinating the Rebel Legion table.

I am recruiting Troy Gaines to recruit and wrangle volunteers to entertain the people in line outside the museum, if weather allows.

Dawn Welsh will assist some of our costumers who have costumes with limited vision and mobility with photo ops at a location near the green room.

The rest of our non-costumed volunteers will be roaming handlers, assisting our costumed characters as they wander around the museum.

Any costumers not listed on the schedule for a particular shift can either entertain the guests visiting inside the museum, or volunteer to entertain the guests in line.

The schedules and assignments are subject to change- please contact me right away if there is a problem with your assignment and we can rearrange things. Thanks to all of our volunteers!

Important notice for those on the costumed volunteers waiting list:
We still have 12 people on the waiting list. To give as many people as possible a chance to participate, I am including our wait list volunteers on the list being sent to Smithsonian security for admission to the volunteer parking.
Wait list volunteers are welcome to attend and assist as a non-costumed volunteer if no costumer spaces open up prior to the event. I'd suggest that you bring your costume with you if possible, in case there are any costumed volunteers who fail to show up on event day. Any no-shows will be replaced by any of our wait list volunteers who can make it on Saturday with their costumes. Since all costumes need to be loaded in the museum prior to 10 AM, we will start moving the costumes for wait list volunteers into the museum at 9:45 AM to replace any costumers who don't have their costumes loaded in the museum by then. We have 120 costumer spots and we want to make sure that we use all of them.

Most Important Changes Summary: Details are below:

1. All costume bins and large bags must be brought into the museum during the following times:
Friday, 10/20 5:30 PM- 8:30 PM OR
Saturday, 10/21 9:00 AM-10 AM ONLY

This means that there is only ONE HOUR on Saturday morning during which all bins, large bags and other equipment must be brought into the museum.

So, if you didnít drop off your costume on Friday, you will need to arrive at the museum in time to have your bin inside the building by 10 AM.

It is very important that we bring as many costumes in as possible on Friday night, to help avoid congestion between 9-10 AM on Saturday. If you will be in Northern VA on Friday but are not available to drop off your bin between 5:30 Ė 8:30 PM on Friday, please contact Lori Frye to see if we can make arrangements to have you drop off your bin to one of our volunteers before the 5:30 PM load-in time.

IMPORTANT: Deb Benigni will be checking off which people have dropped off their costumes on Friday night and Saturday morning. Please be sure that you ask Deb to have your name checked off the list when you drop off your costume. Since we have people on the waiting list, please note that if it is not checked off that you have dropped off your costume by 9:45 AM, and if you have not contacted Lori Frye before 9 AM to let her know you will be here and unloaded before 10 on Saturday morning, it is possible that one of our wait list volunteers who is on site will be asked to replace you as a costumed volunteer. We want to give as many volunteers as possible the opportunity to participate.

We will need to move as many bins as possible in as quickly as possible between 9-10 AM on Saturday, so please expect that every able-bodied volunteer who is there during that hour will be recruited to help move bins into the building.

Also, if anyone has carts that they can bring to help move bins into the building more quickly, please bring them along. Please be sure that they are marked with your name, however, so we can be sure they will be returned.

See the Friday set-up section below for details about Friday set-up and costume drop off.

2. Volunteer sign-ups will close TUESDAY AT 5:00 PM so we will be able to get our final volunteer list to the Smithsonian on time for their deadline.

3. Photo op schedules were completed, but there just was a major personnel change which rearranges several shifts, so I wonít be able to finalize them until tomorrow. I will post them everywhere as soon as they are ready.

4. Parking directions are different for Friday night than they are for the event on Saturday- please read the directions below carefully and make sure you go to the correct parking lot on the correct day. It costs $15 if you park in the main museum lot before 4 PM, so it is an expensive mistake if you park in the wrong lot. On both days, we will be driving around to the back entrance after we enter the museum grounds.

5. Do not arrive at the museum before 9 AM on Saturday morning. The museum will not be ready to check you in before 9 AM. If you are coming from out of town and arrive early and need somewhere to kill time, there is a Starbucks and a Target that open early at Chantilly Crossing, directly across Rt. 50 from the volunteer entrance to the museum. (They are in the same shopping center as the hotel and Red Robin).

6. The group photo in front of the space shuttle will be at 11:00 AM this year. Please plan to be in costume and at the space gallery by 11:00 AM if youíd like to do the group photo.

7. The Smithsonian is providing a generous 90 lunches this year- but since we have a total of 168 volunteers, there wonít be enough for everyone. If you want to be sure to get a lunch, please bring your own. The lunches are sandwiches- there have been vegetarian sandwiches included in past years. If you have other special dietary needs, we recommend bringing your own lunch. The Smithsonian will provide 8-9 cases of water, but if you want soda, Gatorade or other beverages, please bring your own. For those who donít bring a lunch, there is the food provided by the Smithsonian, and there is also a McDonaldís onsite (although lines tend to be very long during the event). The Smithsonian generally does not allow food in our changing room and makes a special exception for us, so please choose the food you bring carefully: no foods that stain (like salsa or red grapes), drip (sauces and dips) or crumble and leave a lot of crumbs. We want to leave a neat room for the museum at the end of the night.

8. We have finally outgrown Red Robin- we had over 150 RSVPs for the Saturday night dinner, which would overwhelm Red Robinsí capability of 50 people at a time. We are moving the Saturday night dinner to Buffalo Wing Factory, which is east on Rt. 50 from the hotel and the Red Robin. They are saving an area for us that is larger than Red Robinís capacity
In order to keep our Red Robin tradition, however, we are moving our Friday night post set-up dinner to the Red Robin.

9. We need several able-bodied volunteers to help us move stanchions:
We will need a team of about 4 people to handle moving the stanchions that secure the Star Wars area and mark the photo op lines during Friday night set-up and on Saturday. You will be needed to do the following jobs:
a. Friday Night (starting approximately 5:30 PM): Set up
stanchions to mark off the lines for the Vader photo op, the joint
photo ops downstairs and upstairs, and the C-3PO photo
op(shared with R2 Builders), and to block off the front of the
501st and RL tables. Stanchions need to be set up to block the
Star Wars area from the public.
b. Saturday morning, 11 AM sharp: Move the stanchions that block
the Star Wars area and use them to make the photo op lines for
the 501st and Rebel Legion photo ops.
c. Saturday evening, 5:30 PM sharp: Move the stanchions from the
501st and Rebel Legion photo ops to block off the entire Star
Wars area from the public.
d. 5:30 PM : Put away the stanchions from all of the photo ops in
the area designated by the Smithsonian.
This job canít be done while in costume, and the stanchions are pretty heavy. There will be a cart available to assist with moving the stanchions, but they will need to be lifted on and off the cart. Please contact Lori Frye if you would like to volunteer to help move the stanchions.

If you have signed up as a costumed or non-costumed volunteer and need to cancel, please contact Lori Frye as soon as possible to cancel. We have a waiting list for costumed spots, and shift assignments have been made for both costumed and non-costumed volunteers which will need to be filled if you canít make it.

If you need to cancel on the Saturday of the event, please make every effort to contact Lori before 9 AM. Once in the museum at 9 AM, there will not be internet access and phone connections are sketchy.
Also, please remember that in order for a waiting list volunteer to be able to take your place, their costume will need to be in the museum by 10 AM, so the earlier you give notice of cancellation, the better a chance we have that a wait list volunteer will be able to replace you.
If you are on the costumed volunteer waiting list, I will contact you as soon as possible if there is cancellation which moves you off of the waiting list.

ADDITIONAL SIGN UPS: MUST SIGN UP BY TUESDAY 10/16 AT 5 PM.

The deadline for signing-up as either a costumed and non-costumed volunteer is Tuesday, 10/16 at 5 PM. This deadline is necessary so that I can send the final volunteer list to the Smithsonian in time for their cut-off.

If you would like to sign up as a non-costumed handler, please sign up here by 5 PM on Monday, 10/16:

There is still a waiting list of 17 people for spots as costumed volunteers as of 10/15 at 7:00 PM- it is not likely we will make it through the current waiting list. If you are an approved member of the 501st, Rebel Legion or the Mandalorian Mercs and would like to add your name to the waiting list, please do so by 5 PM on Monday, 10/16 here:

Table Shift Sign-Ups will remain open until event day or until all shifts have been filled. There are currently shifts at both the 501st and Rebel Legion tables where only one volunteer is signed up- it would be best if there were at least 2 volunteers signed up per shift. Photo op schedules are coming out today or tomorrow, so you will be able to work around any photo op shifts you may have.

If you would like to volunteer for a shift working at the 501st or Rebel Legion display tables, you can sign up on the spreadsheet here:

Friday Night Parking- Do Not Park Here Saturday or You Will Be Charged $15: Enter at the Rt. 28 gate, GPS address 14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway, Chantilly, VA. The museum now has machines that distribute parking tickets. Arrive after 4 PM, put the ticket in the machine when you depart, and you will not be charged for parking.
Here are directions to the Rt. 28 entrance of the museum:

IMPORTANT: Do not arrive before 4 PM or you will be charged $15 for parking by the machine.

Once you go through the Rt. 28 gate, do not park in the main parking by the museum entrance. Please drive past the front of the museum and follow the road that curves around the museum to the left. It is the same place we will be parking on Saturday, but the entry point is different.

I will post a list of the Friday night volunteers either tomorrow or Tuesday- please let me know if you need to cancel, or if you want to be added to the list.

Even if you canít stay to help with set-up, please come by to drop off your bin if you possibly can to avoid Saturday morning back-ups during 9 AM Ė 10 AM load-in time. Please be sure to ask Deb Benigni to check off that your costume has arrived on her list- any costumed volunteers whose costume is not in the museum by 9:45 and who has not checked in with Lori Frye by 9 AM may be replaced by someone on the waiting list._________________Lori Frye
Admiral Ackbar
Freedom Base

Last edited by midichlorianlori (Lori Frye) on Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:05 am; edited 29 times in total

SATURDAY EVENT DAY DETAILS:
Parking: Please use the Rt. 50 gate to the museum to enter the volunteer parking, GPS address Chantilly Baptist Lane. For those staying at the hotel, take Lee Road straight across Rt. 50 and the gate to the museum is straight ahead. Here is a map of the location of the gate, and where to go when you enter the museum grounds.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxRctezU96uraDAwbkMzQzhxZVk/view?usp=sharing
Arrival Time: Do not arrive before 9 AM. If you did not drop off your costume on Friday, then your costume bins or large bags need to be in the museum before 10 AM on Saturday. If you dropped your bins off Friday, you can arrive later. However, the group photo is at 11 AM, so please plan to be in costume by 11 AM if you would like to participate in the group photo in front of the space shuttle. The actual event begins at noon and runs until 5:30 PM.

What to Do When You Arrive: Go to Classrooms 2A/2B: From the volunteer entrance, go straight until you reach the Blackbird plane, then take a left turn and go all the way back into the Claude Moore Education Center, then take the hallway to the left, and the classrooms are on the right side. They are before you reach the IMAX theater. The museum requires that only event volunteers are allowed into Classrooms 2A and 2B; friends and family members who are not working for the event are not allowed into the room.
Bring your costume bin in with you right away and ask Deb Benigni to check it in on her list. All event volunteers, whether costumed or non-costumed, will need to stop at the check-in table outside the classrooms and pick up a volunteer badge in order to access the changing room.
Stow your gear back against the walls- please do not leave items on the tables when you leave the green room- other people will need to use the tables to eat and change. Once your gear is stowed and you have your badge, if it is not 10 AM yet, please go back to the door where you entered and see if you can assist other 501st, RL, Mando Mercs or R2-D2 Builders Club volunteers move their gear into the museum before 10 AM.

What To Expect: Lori Frye will be contacting everyone within the next several days re: your Air & Scare assignments. Here are descriptions of what to expect for various common jobs:
1. Costumed volunteers with a photo op shift assigned: please be in costume and in the green room 15 minutes before your assigned photo op shift. There will be a wrangler assigned to your photo op location, who will collect all of the characters for the photo op into a group and bring you to the photo op. (We have signs and handlers to help you navigate the crowds and make it to your photo op without delays.) If you have two shifts in the same location, you do not need to return to the green room between them- your wrangler will know that you are there. There are two handlers assigned to each photo op location: if you need a break or have any difficulty during your photo op shift, your handlers can assist you. Please stay at your photo op shift station until you are relieved (unless you are in distress and need to leave on an emergency basis). Shift changes donít always happen precisely on schedule given the dense crowds and complicated event, and we want to keep the photo op stations continuously staffed. Everyone has an hour-long break scheduled at some point in the event so you can rest, eat and hydrate.
2. Costumed volunteers with no photo op assigned: There are two different important jobs that you can do if you do not have a photo op shift assigned:
a. Entertain the crowds waiting in line outside the museum: we will have a wrangler collecting a few costumers anytime that the weather is favorable to go outside and entertain the people waiting in line outside the museum. The lines are always long for this event, and we had great feedback both from costumers who did this duty and from the guests who gave positive feedback about it on their comment forms. This is a good option for any face characters where there are multiples of a character at the event if mobility allow it; one version of the face character can work the line outside the museum and the other can work in the museum.
b. Entertain the guests who have entered the museum: most of our costumers who arenít on photo op shifts roam the museum floor and interact and take photos with the museum guests. We have many roaming handlers this year, so please gather a group of multiple characters and a handler to assist you to make the best use of our staff. Handlers can help you by carrying your badges while youíre in costume, keeping track of time to make sure you make it to any assigned shifts, carry water for hydration, manage impromptu lines that may form and assist guests with photos, and help extract you from any excessive crowds that may form.
For all of our costumers without specific shifts assigned, please remember to take one or more breaks to rest and rehydrate as needed.
3. Handlers with a photo op shift assigned: Each photo op has two handlers (for the Vader photo op, one of our officer costumers acts as a second handler) who assist our costumers while they work their photo op shifts. Photo op handlers manage lines, assist guests with their photos, provide water for the costumers, assist the costumers with costume issues or if they are in any distress. If one of our costumers needs to leave the photo op on an emergency basis, then one handler should escort the costumer to the green room and the second handler should stay and work the photo op. The handler escorting the costumer can turn them over to the green room staff for assistance and return to the photo op.
4. Roaming handlers: These handlers work with our characters who are roaming the museum or the lines outside the museum. You can carry the costumersí badges while they are roaming, keep track of time to make sure the costumers make it to any assigned shifts, manage impromptu lines that may form, assist guests with photos, and help extract costumers from any excessive crowds that may form.
5. Photo op wranglers: These volunteers manage the shift changes at our photo ops. They collect the characters for the next assigned photo op shift, and escort them to the photo op stations. They also help to resupply the photo op handlers with water as needed, and help make sure that the photo ops are running smoothly.

Blasters are allowed, as long as they do not actually shoot projectiles. Please do not point your prop blasters directly at any of the museum guests, even if they request it. Please treat your blaster at this event like it is a real weapon; keep it pointed away from people and keep your finger off the trigger.

Given our large number of volunteers, please be considerate and pack up your costume gear when you are finished changing and stow your costumes along the walls of the room instead of leaving them on the tables. We will need to keep the tables clear so others have room to change or eat.

Group Photo: We have a group photo taken by the Smithsonian photographer in front of the space shuttle every year. This year the photo will be taken at 11:00 AM. If you would like to participate in the photo, please be at the entrance to the Space Hangar in front of the space shuttle promptly by 11 AM.

Saturday Night Dinner:
As noted above, we have too many people to fit into the Red Robin, so we have moved the Saturday night dinner to:
Buffalo Wing Factory
13067 Lee Jackson Highway
Fairfax, VA 22033
https://www.buffalowingfactory.com/locations/
Please let Lori Frye or Nick Pasquariello know if you RSVPíd for the dinner but need to cancel.

Question: I signed up for slot 150, but I cannot sign up my husband in his RFT now. Can I add him to the wait list please. We missed last year and really want to come back this year, but together
I have my Ahsoka costume and would prefer to stay in that as long as possible, since the makeup takes 2 hours to apply._________________BenaeQuee - Costumer and Handbag Designer
Check me out on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/BenaeQueeCostumer

Question: I signed up for slot 150, but I cannot sign up my husband in his RFT now. Can I add him to the wait list please. We missed last year and really want to come back this year, but together
I have my Ahsoka costume and would prefer to stay in that as long as possible, since the makeup takes 2 hours to apply.

Slot 150 is part of the wait list. only the first 120 to sign-up are guaranteed a costuming slot. 121 and above are on the wait list in case any drop out. There are opportunities as mentioned for non costumed attendance and participation if you are interested in any of those._________________
"It was an honor just to be nominated!"
"Remember - You are UNIQUE....Just like everyone else!"

OH NO! I thought it was 150 for some reason and go so excited The craziness of Dragon Con and then working another con immediately after caused me to not be able to check on anything for sign ups Oh well, I guess we probably won't make it this year again, that's too many slots ahead of us. I'll leave our names though just in case._________________BenaeQuee - Costumer and Handbag Designer
Check me out on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/BenaeQueeCostumer

It looks like there are table shifts that still need volunteers, so if you haven't signed up for a table shift, or would like to work more, please sign up so we have at least two volunteers at the table.

I have been working on arranging the photo op groups all weekend, and can't finalize them until I get some additional information from the Smithsonian. It is possible that table shifts may be rearranged if someone has an opportunity to do a photo op that conflicts with their shift.

However, if you have signed up for a shift and don't receive a message from Rick, John or me asking if it is OK to adjust your schedule, then you are good to go.

Just signed up for a second shift. Depending on how the day goes, i'll try to stay longer, but i will have guests in town that weekend, so can't commit to more at this exact moment._________________I ain't no rodent!

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